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Speaker: [00:00:00] What's up everybody? Gene Fetty back at you with another episode of the All Access Podcast. Guys, it's episode number 50. We made, it should have been there a while ago, but my summer break sorta of put the brakes on that. Uh, anyways, we made it. We are halfway to a hundred and we are at the end of 2025 as I'm recording this.
It's Sunday, December 28th. This will come out on the 29th. The topic for today's show, 2026 tool must haves and some new stuff to look at. We've got MTE, the Mobile Tech Expo 2026 coming up, uh, in about a month. Uh, in fact, exactly in a month. Um, and it's the 25th anniversary. Kevin, I think you could have planned that better, bud.
Rest in peace Anyways, uh, just kidding. Let's dive into it. [00:01:00] So I've got a mix of tools here. Some of them are brand new for, uh, 2025 or, you know, we're new in 25, just rolling out in 2026 AKA or also right, the Compact Hub from Anson with some new compact hub tools. Some of these for uh, really for everybody's benefit.
I've got some of my just absolutely must have tools that I have to have. I don't care if they've been around forever. If they're as simple as a, you know, little wedge or a block of wood or dent craft dollies, right? Those are absolute must haves in your, uh, arsenal. Um, so without further ado, let's get started.
Uh, you can see we're moving the studio around, hopped over in front of the big old whiteboard, um, just because I didn't feel like moving the big piece of glass that we're moving out [00:02:00] the peel board from the tint work. Um, and we're trying to get back to a little bit better production value for you. So two cameras.
We've got main camera and we've got camera two. What's up everybody? There's my hand, uh, to zoom in and show you some of the smaller tools or tips or, uh, whatever we're gonna be talking about. There's a lot here, like a lot. I'm gonna try not to forget everything. I'm also not gonna try to go for multiple hours.
Uh, but we will see also. Quick shout out to TikTok. What's up TikTok? Uh, we're doing a little live stream behind the scenes over here. Camera left. I think that's camera left, camera right? I don't know. Camera over there. Uh, anyways, what's up TikTok, uh, to some of the live viewers. You can see this show live.
We're not live the full replay on YouTube, uh, tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM Eastern. So let's dive in. We're just gonna work through this table. We'll work through this table, and I will try to [00:03:00] keep this as cohesive as possible. Uh, but no promises. Like there's a lot. And I honestly had to stop grabbing stuff, uh, because I think I need most of my tools.
So let's start right here, right front and center. Uh, these are tried and true. These are not brand new. These are the Talon Wedge from Stuckey Tools. These things you can, as you can see in the video, are very, very well used. Um, I keep, actually, I keep three of them. Uh, just one as a backup. Uh, I always wedge my door open with two.
And with these I like to go. What you would think would be backwards, like loops out, two wedges in to gimme a little bit more reach. Now these things are super strong. I believe Carl said they've only had a couple ever break. I think it is some sort of glass [00:04:00] reinforced plastic also works great as a pride tool.
Um, these definitely fall into the must haves, like you need a good wedge, get a great wedge. These Stuckey tools are amazing. I'm gonna get rid of these as we go to kind of help me remember what, uh, what we've gone through. Uh, let's, let's talk some hammers. My favorite blending hammer of all time. The four ounce g lexo hammer.
Let's get you a look here. Uh, it's got that cool, open designed head. Uh, Glaxo always makes beautiful tools. I'm sure part of this is design and part of this is, uh, functional to get the weight down. I love how these feel. No, I've been using this one for years. Uh, and I've really had to drive the, uh, wedge in to hold this head on.
Like, I've made plenty of money with this [00:05:00] thing and I love this handle. So it's got the backside right where you can get your reach if you want a shorter handle, it's got that sort of bulge in the middle where can slide right up and shorten it and make some impacts. And then double heads wide head, which is honestly what I use most of the time and the smaller head for some real precision work.
I mean that Glaxo four ounce hammer is amazing. Uh, I think everybody who works for me owns this hammer. And every student, every PDR student I've had come through the shop. If they didn't own this hammer left. Uh, ordering this hammer. So this thing is absolute money. Uh, incredible onto the other table.
Next up is my stinger paddle. Uh, so this came out, I guess it was last year. Last, yeah, I think it came out last December. So a little over a year ago. I [00:06:00] wanted to make in my mind the perfect paddle. Um, in fact, I almost named it the perfect paddle. But Mark, my buddy, has perfect pull stuff, which we will talk about in a bit.
Uh, and I didn't wanna sort of step on his toes. Now, full disclosure, I was tired of buying hammers that were made out of a softer wood, uh, that I kept chewing through, like multiple hammers, multiple hammer handles per year, looking for this exact strike. These are made out of Purple Heart. I wanted it to hold up better, but it's held up well.
It's held up better than any hammer handle I've used. Uh, but I have had some loss. So lock in. Full disclosure. So this is, this was an early one. This may have even been prototype before they were in production. So over a year of absolute daily use, the leather side has held up just fine. Uh, this side, I had one split.
I [00:07:00] lost an edge. Uh. To the side. This in the middle, right? And my knockdowns, my favorite Knockdowns are, we'll talk about them, these shock blockers, but they have a hard, sharp edge, really for over a year. I can't complain that that's there. Uh, I guess I just wanted something bulletproof or they're not quite bulletproof.
But that being said, the Stinger is still my absolute go-to tool, uh, for knocking down. Uh, in fact, if you head over to dent repair now.com/institute, I've actually got a free course called The Stinger Course that you can take that will dive deep into why I believe this is the perfect paddle for knocking down.
Um, that being said, maybe it's not perfect, but we're not calling it quits yet. Uh, I love it. I know this is [00:08:00] [email protected]. Um, check it out. It's really a great tool. We'll figure out something to protect that back of that metal, but, or the back of that paddle. I've even thought about putting a small piece of metal back there to hold it.
We'll see, uh, when I retire this one and pull out a brand new one, I will let you know and keep you up to date. So, stinger Paddle, oh, and of course, the, I wanna tell you where to get all of these, uh, the Stuckey Talen wedge tools obviously [email protected]. Paddles up next. Now, I'll tell you that I sort of got stuck using the stinger, like I was using it for everything.
I think I was maybe, and maybe this is part of what killed it, is that's designed for a very specific strike, a very finishing strike. Fast, lightweight to sting, hence the name Sting the high spot down. I found myself sticking to it too much. Uh, and I picked up this paddle. I think I got it to the [00:09:00] hail Expo this summer.
Or was it Vegas somewhere. I ran into Peter and he is like, Hey, check out my upgraded paddle. Uh, and this sort of brought me back to reality and was like, Hey, don't get stuck using one tool, right? There's different tools, there's different hammers for different jobs. This is my go-to paddle for when I need a little bit more oomph.
When I'm trying to move a crown. I'm trying to move more metal, and I don't want to swing so hard and I just need some bumps, right? This paddle on top of, uh, being very well built is, is beautiful, right? Uh, the ball, very similar to the stinger. A nice wrap. Uh, good machine work here, leather on this side.
And Peter, maybe this is my answer, a rubber on this side. So it really, as I get older and my ears get worse. I've really noticed that [00:10:00] this rubber, uh, helps to deaden the sound. Man, I'm digging it. Uh, Peter as always, with all of your tools, amazing tool. The VIP paddle from V-I-P-P-D-R tools, uh, go check that out.
Love it. Uh, I think that is new for this year. So that would be our new right? What to look at. That's a what to look at tool. This was brand new towards the end of, maybe towards the end of 24, beginning at 25, the whole new line of Kiko hammers. Uh, I think I have them all. I've got like the cool craftsman style this size, and then I've got the really long one.
I've got different heads. It's a whole system. This hammer set up. Alright, let's take a look at. It has become a go-to for like those soft and medium crowns. I'm typically not a fan of round handles, but this one [00:11:00] round handles round shaft. Uh, this one I do not have a problem indexing. Um, and it may be because this head has pivot tip heads on it.
So what that means is when you strike, even if you're off the hammer head or the face of this will correct. To what you need to do, to what you're looking for. Uh, so I've got a radius head and I've got a flat head. This hammer, great reach, good length. Uh, that must be 18 inches. It's bigger than 12, maybe 16.
16 to 18 inches. Amazing for that. That lighter, softer crown work, good reach, good control, clean strikes. Uh, this hammer is definitely, I guess this would fall into both as a newer hammer if you haven't been around. Uh, and if you have, check this thing [00:12:00] out. Uh, and the aluminum head is nice and light. This is a, uh, this has become a go-to hammer for me.
Those two paddles, the Glaxo hammer, and this are what live on the top of my cart and are my go-tos all the time. So [email protected]. Speaking of Kiko shameless plug at Mobile Tech Expo on Thursday Education Day. I am coming out of Kiko Retirement, putting my blue Kiko shirt back on. We've got one right over there.
And I'm gonna be doing the talk at MTE about lateral tension, how to unlock your repairs and how to stay unlocked throughout the repair, uh, to give you right to, to open up new repair possibilities, showing off some new tools. Uh, that I'm sure will be must haves because that's just how Kiko rolls. So side note, come see me at Education Day, mobile Tech Expo 2026, the 25th anniversary.
Alright, let's get these little bad [00:13:00] boys out of the way. Let's talk some tips. Let's see if I can give you some tech tips on tips. My first tip, tech tip would be buy the tips. Buy all the tips. In fact, Keith, I think you're a regular listener. I'm waiting for those new tips to pop up on Black Plague. PDR Keith is coming out with a whole new line of micro tips that I believe, from what I can understand or what I've heard sounds similar to this, which we'll kick it off.
The Dent Reaper, I don't even know what it's called. Stubby almost all thread, R four Tip. This thing, and I've talked about this on the show a couple of times, has become an absolute go-to for me. Uh, it fits on some of the smaller rods. I've got a three-eights rod that I really like. Uh, and also this is, let me sneak in, uh, an R four tip into some tight spaces.
This tip [00:14:00] from dense layer is incredible and I think it's only like 20 bucks, give or take. Uh, that is [email protected]. That's from a one. Check that out. That would be on the, that's sort of a mixed tool, these tips. Up next are the pheno tips, and I only grab two, but I've got a ton out there. These are [email protected].
These are a tip that have been around for ages. Uh, I think that, um, Ultradent Tools was the first company to come out with these. It's a phenolic resin tip. Um, these are my favorites. So I've got this short of, sort of short stubby. Mm-hmm. Call it a ball tip. Bullet tip. And then of course, a sharper one.
These allow you to push incredibly hard without leaving any tool marks behind, [00:15:00] uh, deep, nasty dents. Get it hot, get like this ball tip behind that dent and go to town. And then you're able to come in and finish with a clean tip like this. Absolute must have. Anson has gone and made an entire line of these of different shapes.
Uh, biggest tip with these do not side load. These are a direct push tool. Only if you're gonna twist, I have broken several. Let's see if I can get you to zoom in here. I've broken several, right? Because there's just not a lot of meat around that, uh, thread. And it is just a resin. It almost looks like wood.
Uh, honestly, uh, do not side load these direct push only. But I promise if you are not using phenolic tips and you start to use them, you'll be amazed anywhere you would've pushed with a plastic tip, you can push with these, but these [00:16:00] are a lot less slippery. But again, don't side, don't side load them up.
Next is, and it's not even out yet, so this would definitely fall into the tools to look at. Uh, but I heard Hudson say, uh, in fact, when we did this super show for MTE, um, these are, these will be available at MTE. So this tip is called the Wizard's Dice from Dent Gents, uh, maybe Dent Gents and, uh, dent Vision.
Don't hold me to that. I think it's Hudson's design. Anyways, they go on this tip that I can never remember the name of from Hanson, the little pink tip, super mushy pushes. Awesome. Never wears out. This tip, we've gotta get you a good zoom in here. This tip is really cool. So we called it the Wizards Dice because it has this multifaceted, you know, it looks like a [00:17:00] die from a Dungeons and Dragons game or something like that.
The idea is it's on this three eighths. Round base, which will let you slide into tighter areas, think like European doors. And then when you come out and push, because this rotates and spins on here like this, it will come out and always give you a big broad contact. This pairs perfectly with
one of my go-to tools, which I guess we'll jump ahead and talk about, which is the dent layer, shorty three eights diameter tool, uh, original hub design, not, not compact hub, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see this tool come out in the contact compact hub line. But anyways, this is part of the interchangeable tip, uh, door.
Lord set. Uh, this is the smallest one. This is the three eighths [00:18:00] tool. This tool paired with this tip we can get her to thread in is absolute money down European doors. Here we go. You, you see back over, down European doors, right? It is super small, uh, so you don't have to wedge that door open. As far another place that I found that this works fantastic is upper bedside dents, right?
Pull the bed cap off. And it is, uh, because this is a smaller diameter, you can sneak in. You get great leverage out. And same thing as you're rolling around, you're getting this incredible contact point with that tool. So this right, the the wizards, dice, tip, cap, tip cap, whatever you wanna call it. Hudson, drop a comment.
Uh, anyways, fantastic. Four tight [00:19:00] European doors, tops of bedsides, and also, um, deep call it dent Olympic style dent. Same reason. It's a 3D printed head, or 3D printed tip. You're able to get down in, you roll around, it gets that big, uh, surface area and you're able to make a huge clean push up nice and fast.
So that's a twofer for you. Check out the Wizards dice tip and this door. Lord interchangeable, tip smallest. I've bought this set, uh, but I think you can probably buy this individual. Uh, all of this will be [email protected]. Phenolic tips, pinky tip, Anson pdr, and the little R four only tip, uh, from Dent [email protected].
Love, love, love those tools. Uh, while we're on small sneaking in tools, let's just keep it rolling. [00:20:00] This is now what I've done here is a lot of this I would recommend sets, so that little one door Lord interchangeable set door Lord set is on the list for later today. If I brought all of my sets out, I would need a way bigger studio and a production team, not just me and my little switcher here, hiding behind the gun or the glue gun.
Um, this is one in a series of, I believe three tools from Finesse. Uh, these are the cherry poppers. So there's two shorter, uh, well, one shorter, um, quarter inch and just straight 90 degree bends. So a small and a large. And then this little double bend. It is just simply, it is just simply, uh, one of their great stainless tools that they have ground the ends down to accept an R four cap.
Uh, and these things will sneak into, uh, [00:21:00] areas all over the place. Um, so definitely get ahold of Bonnie. Uh, I think it's finesse pdr tools.com. But anyways, look up finesse PDR tools and you will find it. Uh, the cherry popper set. So little double band. Uh, I think they're all quarter inch two. Uh, the longer straight or the longer 90, and then the shorter 90.
I use them all the time. Same idea as the little looking over there. Same idea as the little. Um, tip from dent layer. These are allowing me to sneak R four caps into tighter, smaller areas, get cleaner, pushes work faster, move the bottom of the dent up nice and fast. Cherry poppers from finesse. Amazing.
These definitely fall into the must haves. Uh, these are something that have been around for a while. I think I picked them up last year at, uh, one of the meetups where I saw Mon. I didn't see her this year, uh, here. So [00:22:00] check 'em out. Definitely a must have tool added to your arsenal. It will be become a go-to tool, go-to tool for you as well.
While we're talking about finesse right here, again, I didn't bring the whole set. It's just one of six or seven tools. The circus set the mt sharp tips. This one's been used and abused and dirty. I love it. Uh, these are real tools that I use every day. These sharp, this sharp set from finesse definitely falls into the must haves, right?
It's a classic. If you have not purchased this yet, go get it. And the price is like for what you're getting, the quality of tool and the, uh, number of tools. It's like one of those greatest values in PDR. They've been around forever. I think I've probably had my set for five or six years. I should have bought it way sooner than that.
[00:23:00] Um, Mac, my son fell in love with these, uh, who he actually used his winnings from the third place at the beginner competition. He took part his Anson gift card and applied it to a set of circus tools, uh, so he could get his own full set. But anyways, the MT set from finesse, uh, tools available at Finesse Tools, uh, and Anson, of course, right?
Anson has everything. Uh, but I like to also shout out the individual tool makers as well. The entire set is a must have. There's one or two more smaller than this. And then they go all the way to like, almost as tall as me. All sharp tips. Amazing for finishing Dent. Amazing for aluminum. That is where it's at.
It's gonna be a long show. I need a little drink of water. This is good though. We're 23 minutes in and pun intended, I haven't really put a dent in [00:24:00] these, uh, in these tools yet. Uh, let's go over here. Uh, now this is more for,
if the battery's not dead. I can show you. This is more for some of the body text. They're learning PDR or that're learning glue pool for years with Kiko, uh, teaching. We used a regular infrared, uh, thermometer and it works pretty good. Oh, over the last year or so, I switched to a thermal camera. Uh, and this thing is super cool, right?
So there's the desk, there's my hand where you can see that under my nails is warmer than that. But check this out. I moved my hand away and you can still see where it's at. Fantastic for when you're really trying to get to get dialed [00:25:00] in and learn and see exactly what's going on with your glue tabs.
This tool allows you, like, you just sort of look at the whole scene and it'll find the hottest point, which should be directly under your glue tab, and it lets you find that perfect pull window. Uh, so you're getting that strong pull every time. This has become a real go-to for me with getting students up to speed and really dialing in their temperature on their glue pools.
Uh, I think I picked this up on Amazon, uh, under 150 bucks. I may have caught it on a sale for like 135. Um, that particular brand, if you would like to know, I don't know what the brand is, oh, HSF tools and this particular one. Is the HF 96. Sorry, forgot to switch the camera over there. So you were just staring at that screen.
But anyways, that camera, uh, has really, really helped with, [00:26:00] um, teaching students and, and showing more, uh, a lot of people go wrong with that infrared thermometer and they're holding it too far back and it's got a laser, so they think it's reading the laser, but it's actually a big, broad average of what it's looking at.
Thermal camera. Super cool. I probably need to take it home and check my wiring and make sure all that's good too. Those are the ads I always see on TikTok. Hey, what's up TikTok? Uh, little shout out. We're still live streaming on there. Uh, anyways, um, that's that. Let's go, let's go over here and talk about a tab that if I wasn't friends with Mark at Perfect Pool, I don't even know that.
I wouldn't know that it's out. I haven't seen any footage. Uh, mark shout out. I told you I'd get some in that training and we ended up not doing anything near an edge. Uh, but anyways, these tools or these tabs are the lat tabs by Perfect Dent, [00:27:00] less Touch lat tabs by Perfect Pool. So it's a lateral tension tool to pull laterally.
Uh, but I don't know that they're really for like lateral in the sense of pulling. Laterally on a panel. What these are really made for, uh, in talking to Mark, is to pull them right door jam. It is to pull to glue here. It's more like a weld on tab, right? If this is your door jam, you would glue in here and pull your jam out this way.
So two sizes. Uh, let's call it business card size, two by three and then smaller. Let's call it one by two, two and a half maybe. Uh, solid metal. I don't know. They're heavy. I don't know that it's aluminum. It's probably steel. Nice coating on 'em comes with, uh, screw heads. If you want to [00:28:00] use your slide hammer or islets, if you want to hook up to a, uh, ratchet strap or if you're on a frame machine, something like that.
Anyways, for getting in jams, no give, pull that jam straight out. Similar to what a Weldon tab would do in a body shop. Not got to play with them yet. Um, keep an eye out. When I do. We will make a video, uh, [email protected]. Um, speaking of perfect pull, if I had room, if we could carry it around my pull tower of the year because I can't use a suction tower anywhere in this shop.
Or studio is definitely the perfect pool. Uh, also [email protected]. That thing is a workhorse. Um, so anyways, check out the Dent list. Touch lat tabs. Buy Perfect Pool. That's that. Next up, [00:29:00] the Robo Lifter. Definitely hands down my favorite go-to Mini Lifter. Well, before I worked for Kiko, long after I worked for Kiko, uh, this robo is where it's at.
I love this thing. Uh, it's a system, right? You can switch out these feet for a precision plate to pin the metal down and pull sharp dents. You can pop these feet off and put crease feet on two. Guess what? Pull creases with. You can marry two of these together on crease feet with a crease adapter and pull body lines in the straight metal.
You can pull sharp stuff, sharp line dents that still nobody else pulls that way. This thing is awesome, but we've added a couple of upgrades, so this is like extra robo juice. So lemme show you here first. Upgrade r. Robo Legs, I think [00:30:00] they call them from Black Plague. So these are adjustable feet, legs, I guess legs that make your feet adjustable to where we can now if we're pulling in an offset area, say you're, um, at the bottom of a rail and you're on the top of the door and you need to get things squared away.
Great movement here. I've also taken these feet and put 'em on my K beam, uh, for extra, uh, adjustability, right? So available from Black Plague PDR, uh, these feet. Uh, the key, the robo of course, from Kiko Kiko tabs, and this little head here, this orange one is from our buddy Jonathan from a couple episodes ago from JVF Tools.
This is like a refined, more polished version of the adapter. So it's pass through. Uh, so you got pass through. It's got a little bit more room. Uh, so tabs are [00:31:00] less likely to get stuck. I believe he told me that they tumble these. So I am a stickler for not sharp edges. The standard robo adapter is pretty sharp here, so if you're pulling and trying to catch a tab, those things will tear your fingers up a little bit.
This is nice and polished and rolled over. Robo absolute must have tool for sure. What to look at. Check out these additions to it, right? The robo legs and then better adapter from JVF tools. Absolutely must have use it literally all the time. Uh, in fact, this handle is like getting wore out, uh, from being on my cart and riding around.
Lemme show you, lemme show you the work that she's been through, right? We've got it here in and out of the really quick topper. Uh, this thing has seen a lot of dents. It's seen it's fixed, a lot of dents. [00:32:00] That thing is awesome. Also, plenty of adapters available from Kiko for that. Uh, you can get a C hook, which turns it into an edge tool.
You can get a hole straightener, which turns it into a hole. Straightener, I have lost count, but I think I have like six robos in, in my realm of repairs now I just get tired of changing it out, so I just built new ones for each one. Let's talk,
let's talk while we're on the glue, while we're on the hot glue mix. Uh, let's talk about some hot glue stuff. So, hands down without a doubt, and, and many years now, my gun, my glue gun for everyday small dents is the trifecta. Glue gun from Anson PDRI think it was originally a collaboration. The trifecta was James Lee from ent, Anson and [00:33:00] TDN back in the day now Kiko uk.
So it was a trifecta. It was those three companies coming together to build the best possible glue gun. I think it's based on a tech TEC glue gun. Uh, which are some of the best going. These guns are phenomenal. Uh, I've not had one burn out. Uh, the only reason we've replaced any is like gigantic falls off of tall roofs and they're not impact proof.
Uh, but that being said, the trifecta gun is without a doubt my go-to every day run and gun, pun intended. My run and gun glue gun is this. Uh, it's got a high and low setting. Honestly, I never use the low setting. Um, the gun itself is built for a Ryobi battery. You then buy an adapter to whatever battery you want.
So this is Ryobi to Milwaukee. They have Ryobi to, uh, [00:34:00] DeWalt and to Makita. This is mine. That is my go-to gun. Without a doubt. Go-to glue. Probably my glues of the year for regular pulls, uh, would've been the purple perfection all season except for the cold season. Um, and then as we move into the cool weather here in the northeast.
Always go to the Anson. Cool weather, tequila glue, the baby blue, that color right there. That is my go-to as soon as the weather gets cold and the shop's cool. We keep the shop at like 60 degrees. This stuff doesn't get chippy down that low. It's still, um, easy to clean off the car when you're done.
Amazing. Definitely my go-to everyday glue gun. We can let that sit here. Collision, guns, hands down. And it did. I pulled the trigger on this early 25, so it's still a new gun. Um, and certainly not [00:35:00] everybody has it. See if I can do this without unplugging any of the electronics that I've got plugged in over there.
This is the JVF uh, pro glue gun. I can't open it up because it's cold. This holds essentially six-ish, six-ish sticks of glue. Um, I also bought his pellets so he can just dump pellets in. You will not run out of glue if you're getting into large, uh, collision pulling, um, large tension tabs. The straps, the the JVF retention, multiple big tabs.
This gun will not run you out of glue. It's expensive. I think it was seven 50 us, uh, is what I paid, and that may have been plus shipping. I can't remember. It's a $700 glue gun. But that being [00:36:00] said, it is worth every penny of that $700. Uh, and in talking to Jonathan, he said this thing is industrial. You literally could just turn it on and leave it on for days.
Uh, I don't, I just turn it on when I need it. I don't wanna burn it out anytime extra soon. Um, incredible jvf tools.com also where you could get that little orange adapter for the Robo Handy's got a new line of tabs out and the retention. He is got tons of great tools. This gun is a bad mofo, like, look at that.
Whew. Love it. Uh, it says wear gloves, so you should probably wear gloves. Amazing. And a real, real tool. Now, I understand that not everybody wants to or can justify a $700 glue gun. I get it. I really do. When I was with Kiko and really for, for years until I found this gun, I would run, honest to goodness, four or five, uh, of [00:37:00] the standard Kiko, GPR star guns.
Uh, just so I didn't run outta glue and I would still occasionally run outta glue, but it was kind of a pain in the butt to have four or five guns and even sometimes the, the trifecta on the side to make sure I had enough melted glue. Then I found this, this is the tech eight 20 dash 12. So it is a one 10 gun.
It's a one 10 plug, uh, variable temperature if you can see that there. This gun, one pair of these, one pair of these guns, right? So, wow. Draw, um, unbelievable. So these are 250 watts? Yep. So these guns are plugin, right? If you have big stuff, you can plug in 250 watt guns. This is the body that the cordless collision gun from Anson Collision, Anson, [00:38:00] PDR is based on is this body.
But those cordless guns only run at 150 watts. They will pump out glue. They will out pump like a standard Kiko or CAM auto entry level gun, but they won't even come close to touching this. Prior to buying this, I would run and I still keep them out there. I'll run a pair of these. You are hard pressed to run out of glue, uh, because they're 250 watts, they recover super fast.
So it's sort of like grab gun one, fill up your big tab, set it down, place your tab right. It's gonna fill up just about anything. When you come back to do your next tab or next strap, grab gun two, fill it up. By the time you're done doing that and place it being 250 watts, gun one is already recovered and ready to go.
It's melted that chamber. It's got a big chamber of glue, great recovery, smooth trigger, like [00:39:00] that's where it's at. And I think these, these are sub one 50. So you could buy, I guess, you know, five of these or one of these. Uh, but in reality, a pair of these will serve you very well. Um, anson pdr.com great. I mean, spectacular gun.
Uh, and if Jonathan didn't come out with this big dog, that would be my go-to collision gun. Hands down without a doubt. Whew. Oh, we're not doing too bad. 40 minutes in table's getting clear. We're looking good. What's up, TikTok? I don't even know if anybody's over there watching. Um, before I end that stream, I will, uh, look at comments and answer your questions if you have any.
Whole show YouTube tomorrow morning, the 29th, 7:00 AM Eastern. Uh, this will all be up. We'll get your closeups and everything. [00:40:00] So let's go from expensive for its size to something that is a absolute must have. This is a super good value. Uh, and that is this three pack of edge dollies from den Craft tools.
So simple, so cheap. I think these might be like $30. Don't hold me on that price. But they're not expensive that all these are a rigid plastic made to help bump the metal over like an edge that got hit. So the edge of a rail, edge of a quarter into a jam, this becomes your dolly to move in to the, uh, move the metal back to the space.
So you've got three different radii, I think that's the word, but our blue is perfectly flat. Our yellow has a slight little dome compared to the blue. See that? No, you can't see it because I don't have good lighting. So [00:41:00] blue is flat, the yellow is slightly domed and the red is really domed. Right? See that rock that is so you can be as precise as you need to be.
These are absolutely a must have tool. If you're doing PDR, I don't care if you're a dooring guy, smash tech. Hail tech doesn't matter. You need this three piece set of edge dollies from Dent Craft, absolute non-negotiable, must haves. Can't believe I waited so many years to get 'em and, and I've had 'em for a lot of years.
Uh, such a simple tool that makes such a big difference. Uh, amazing. Speaking of edge tools, I just got a new one in from Ukraine, from Cult, I think it's cult, CULT, I guess that's how you'd pronounce that. Tools. Uh, mla uh, told me about this company and I saw it and had to order it. I review to come right, but pretty cool.
I snagged [00:42:00] his paddle 'cause I'm a paddle junkie. I got the edge dolly and a blending hammer, so we'll see how it all goes. Um, anyways, super cool, but these bad boys head on over to Dent Crafts tools. Is it Dent Craft tools.com? It's the one from Oklahoma City. You can't miss it. Uh, edge Dollies are amazing.
Call Holly, call Jennifer. Um, get 'em ordered, get 'em going. Absolute must haves along the lines of those little knicknacky things. Uh, and I didn't, again, bring them all out. I've got several different blocks. I've got some nylon blocks from Dent Craft and I've got some wooden blocks from VIP from from our buddy Peter.
Uh, simple. Tools for creating leverage. Uh, I've got ones that go in a third brake light. Uh, I've got this one actually. It has a magnet on the backside with [00:43:00] some different, uh, angles cut in, machined in. You can use these and doors and bed sides and quarter panels to get leverage or to use this as a leverage block.
Um, you should have a whole bunch of, and again, you can see that these are not like brand new out of the box promotional things. These are ride or die in the box. Use them all the time. In fact, they probably need to add magnets to more of them. Um, this particular one, V-I-P-P-D-R tools, uh, the nylon ones at Dent Craft.
Uh, and I've even got a couple other ones from some oddball companies. Get yourself a bunch of blocks. You've gotta be able to get good leverage and control to push. These are something that can help in those little weird scenarios. Uh, where, where you just, you need it. I like this. The table is clearing off.
We're looking [00:44:00] good. Heading in the right direction. This little tool here. Uh, now I think our buddy Matt from Geta Grip sells one. This is no longer available on Amazon. Uh, but this is a digital paint gauge. Here we go. So it turns on, it'll tell us how much paint is on a panel. It'll also tell us, we get a meter reading on the side of the toolbox here.
So if you can see it in the top corner, this says fe. That means it's Ferris, which means it's magnetic, which means it's steel. Uh, if it were aluminum, let's see if we can get an aluminum reading. If we read aluminum, it says Effy non Ferris. That means it is not magnetic, which means it is aluminum in our world.
Also, it will read, uh, you know, some of these lift gates. Uh, [00:45:00] I've seen Toyota, uh, the, not the Grand Cherokee, the big one. Whatever. The big, the big Grand Cherokee grand. Well, the Wagoner has gone to plastic, um, sometimes tops of, uh, tops of hatches or plastic, sometimes BMWs or fenders or composite. Uh, the Raptor Bronco has composites on it that they, they've made flat, they look like metal.
Um, this will tell you, let's see if it'll read this. This will also tell you dash, dash, dash, so you can use this. I do use this tool. One to see if there's been a repaint on the car. So we can go around and check readings, uh, and see if the, the readings match up. Excuse me, if the readings match up on a car.
So that'll give you an idea of refinished or not. We can also use it to identify material type, not sure don't have a magnet on you, or [00:46:00] you need hard evidence. Shoot it, take a picture of it, put it in your estimate that this panel is indeed aluminum. You know, Mr. Or Mrs. Insurance Adjuster and you wanna argue with me or, right.
We had one of our Ford stores that had one of those Raptor, Broncos then, and they were like, man, there's a flaw there. Can you get it out? And we're looking at it, it just didn't feel right. Before we pushed, before we tried to sneak a tool in, we grabbed the thing and we read it and we're like, Hey, that's a composite.
Uh, it's actually a flaw from the mold or whatever you wanna call it, digital paint meter. So you can check Amazon again. I think Matt with, uh, getter Grip has one. Um, very, very useful tool. Also, it helps when the customer's like, no, I, my car's never been painted. And we can see it plain as day. Uh, but they don't want to see it.
That meter becomes the bad guy and can show you, uh, what it's all about. All right. Making our way through Pinky.[00:47:00]
This is my second pinky that I've ever owned. I still have my original pinky, which is getting wore out. Had to get another one 'cause it can't be without Pinky. So this is from Dent Craft Tools, also Dent Craft Oklahoma City. In my opinion, the best whale tails going, uh, are these, they've, they've put a lot of design into it.
Uh, that back being rolled over allows you to go in without, uh, creating high spots. The edges are great. The temper on the metal is great. Uh, not so much for Pinky, but the bigger ones, uh, completely bendable so you can get 'em exactly into where you need to go. Uh, if you're gonna pick one, I would pick Pinky.
'cause you can get into all kinds of places. You can direct push with it. But in reality, I put this on here because like the entire set of whale tails from Dent Craft are a must have. Uh, I think they're up to four or five different head sizes now. [00:48:00] Uh, tons of different lengths. The the whale tail set from them hands down is, is an old school.
Absolute must have. Uh, if you're not using Whale Tails, I don't even know what you're doing. Like get the whale tails and buy the Dent Craft whale tails. These things are phenomenal. Ah, said about whale Tails. This little bad boy. This was, this was a gift from Peter. Uh, we were working a hailstorm together in 2018.
Uh, this chain, it's simple, it's stupid, it's a chain. Um, is freaking awesome. Uh, again, super affordable. V-I-P-P-D-R tools.com. He has got this thing, I don't know if it's heat treated tempered, if you just found a hardcore metal. Um, two different size hooks, so bigger hook, and he cut this little, I'm gonna show just [00:49:00] that little pointed edge helps you to slide it in to some different holes.
It's got the shorter side for smaller holes you can sneak in to tighter areas. And this has been, I thought I lost this, uh, this summer. I had to order another one immediately. I was sick. Now I have a backup one. Um, but this little chain from VIP gets you into so many places if you buy the kit, it comes with this cool little like double C twisted hook.
Uh, great for getting into some weird little spots. This chain, again, it's one of those must haves. It's been around for, if I got this in 18, this seven, eight years ago, um, awesome, awesome. Like it's been around, I can remember a little story time. So if you see that, uh. Gob of gook on there. What that was is, uh, me and Dave [00:50:00] where he was doing a gnarly roof.
Uh, and we had to re foam, um, some of the braces back up, some of the anti flutter braces. We were reapplying the flutter foam. We got a bad tube of fuser. Dude, it fricking exploded in the car. I can't believe we didn't have to buy a dashboard. It stuff went everywhere. Uh, I don't know how we got to wipe it off the dashboard.
I really don't. But there's still a chunk that has stuck to my orange chain that, uh, it's just a reminder to when you're gonna use that stuff, put a drop cloth everywhere in the fricking car. Uh, uh, stories get dodged. A fricking bullet dodged a huge bullet on that, not having to put a dash in. Woo. That was crazy.
All right, let's talk some cold glue and slide hammers while we are here. [00:51:00] So I've got, oh, there it is. Oh, we might as well bring this over to you. Whilst we're at it. Cold glue has become, let's rewind. I was like anti cold glue. When, uh, RIA, right, Sergio first came out, I was like, ah, it's snake oil. Even seeing some of the videos, it just didn't, uh, it just didn't jive with me.
Like, eh. Then Glaxo came out. They made a hard push, great marketing campaign. Uh, some of my friends started using it and it felt like a quick fix. It felt like people were getting into problems with it. In fact, I think it was Mike Toledo, this may have even been back on PDR tool time, saw his neighbor and was like, Hey, we'll pop that dent out for you real quick.
And ended up ripping paint off the car. Like I, I saw people using it the wrong way. Then [00:52:00] MTE Vegas, it had to be 19, um, because it was with Kiko, came out with a Glaxo setup, right? Kiko tabs, Glaxo Glue, slide hammer. And I had never used it before. I'd never paid a whole lot of attention to cold glue. And they were like, we gotta demo it.
So I go over and smack a, we had a PT Cruiser door with that big old bulge smacked a big old dent in it and sort of walk over. And honestly, I was sort of half as in it, 'cause I was not excited to sell cold glue and grab my Kiko slide hammer in those tabs. And I put it on and I like, wham. And that hooked up.
And the power that that thing had, like these light bulbs went off in my head and I'm like, wait a minute. Maybe I was missing the ball on this cold glue stuff, and I, I immediately, I bought it at the show and brought it home and saved a whole Prius roof with it. Like first repair back. We didn't even drop the headliner.[00:53:00]
Fast forward to today, cold glue is like a whole nother world, like a whole, whole nother world. Um, I use it mostly as a finishing tool, not a starting tool. Uh, I still use on my big tabs, I still use, you know, like OG Glaxo Glue. Uh, the black sticky works great, but on my finishing stuff, uh, man, it has literally changed my whole approach to like, rails to finishing even larger dents.
It's so fast. Uh, and with glues that are available today and the tabs and the setups like Unreal. So here is my cold glue setup, my current cold glue setup. Uh, essentially all of 2025, uh, started here, uh, as soon as I could get it after MTE, uh, and then this fall, this one came out. So let's talk about [00:54:00] 'em.
So my go-to, uh, hammer for years has been the cold snap from dent layer. Uh, it's a sharper, harder pull for me. Um, I've tried the ar, the automatic returns. I just get a pet pool with this. Uh, in fact, um, Matt and myself got into a discussion about that when I was on the dense layer podcast. Check that out if you haven't.
Episode 17, I believe, um, where he says he even, uh, doesn't get as a heart of a snap out of the return as he does this. So cold snap pdr tool.com from dense layer. Love this slide hammer. It's my go-to. Uh, I would call this like one of my average, um, hail slash ding slash finishing tabs. Now, you can't tell it here because I've been using it all year.
This is actually Sergio's yellow or gold [00:55:00] glue. Um, but you know, a whole season of hail cars and door dings, uh, has turned it, uh, black. But I promise you this is Sergio's gold, uh, super hard snap. Um, it's a go-to. I've not replaced it yet, but, uh, running through the mix, right, running up fast, uh, and becoming a go-to is the Theo Diablo, um, cold glue.
So it is green. It also comes preloaded. Right. So I've got the, oh, it helps if I turn the camera on. Uh, it is the Galaxo Diablo to these two tabs, uh, that I'll show you in a minute, are, uh, from the hail micro set up. It's a whole kit. It comes with these [00:56:00] and the tabs, these are preloaded with the glue to go onto your tabs.
Uh, and there's a whole process. Uh, I think, did we do a video? I think I need to do a video, uh, the right process. Anyways, get this super hot, get it clean, get it super hot, let it melt into here, and then you peel it out and it's the perfect amount of glue for your slide hammer. Um, I've got these two loaded up, so this is about the same size as my tab on my cold snap from, with the Sergio's yellow I've got set up here.
And then on my fast PDR mini slide, uh, I've got the smallest, uh, nine, 10. It's not very big. That tab for pulling up and finishing some tight, little, small dents is unbelievable. Oh, that's right. We did do a video on a repair. We did a whole, uh, hail rail repair, uh, with [00:57:00] nothing but Diablo. Um, this stuff is phenomenal.
Now, I will say. That the Diablo is a little bit te all of these glue, really glue as a whole, right? Right. The whole infrared thing. Glue is a whole hot cold. Doesn't matter. It's temperature sensitive. And maybe temperature sensitive is the wrong word. This Diablo Glue really likes a warmer panel. So I really warm the panel and then, dude, you can fly.
And it is a hard, snappy pull. It's unbelievable to me just how hard of a snap, how hard of a pull, where you're getting out of cold glue. I thought this yellow, uh, gold from Sergio's, uh, was like as good as it was gonna get. And then sure enough, here comes, uh, Glaxo with the Diablo and man, it's unreal. [00:58:00] Um, the Glaxo stuff is [email protected].
Uh, the cold snap is [email protected] from a one. Uh, the Sergio's glue is a little tougher to find. Uh, it's out there. Um, but you gotta search for it. Uh, if you can't find it and you want to try it out, hit me up with a dm, uh, and I will hook you up with Eddie. Uh, that can get you hooked up here. Who I got mine from.
Uh, slide hammers. Man. I'm gonna have to come out with a new rack for slide hammers, uh, because forever I carried one. Uh, and then I carried two. I I still use my Kiko small slide hammer as my hot glue tab, slide hammer for rails. Uh, so for a while I carried like a heavier, like the two and a half pound Kiko or the old school worth and my, uh, small Kiko mini slide we're like the two.
Now, [00:59:00] much like myo setup, much like my knockdown setup that we're gonna talk about, I don't wanna switch tabs and glue and unscrew, like I just want to go. I've got like, I bet I've got nothing short of i eight or 10 slide hammers that might be on the low side. Uh, this one alone. Uh, the newest, newer one, uh, from Anson, from maybe from PDR Outlet.
Uh, I've got three of these myself. Max's got one, Lou's got one. Dave's got one, like we're loaded up. Uh, this comes with a head for a hot tab. Uh, I honestly don't use it for the hot tab, I use it for the cold tab. Uh, but I've got a couple of these set up with different size tabs. In fact, I just scored another one on the Black Friday deal because it was too good of a deal to not buy with some more cold glue tabs.
So I don't have to switch tabs. I can just, bam, I need something smaller. Bam. Go to town. Um, cold [01:00:00] snap. Mini slide Hammer from Anson is awesome again. I've got a few of them. Uh, and then this one is super cool. It is a little heavier. Let's get you a closeup. This is the fast PDR um, magnetic mini slide hammer.
So hot glue on one side, right? Standard hookup. Or you could use an adapter and make it a double-headed cold glue. Um, and the smaller threads. So Sergio's Glaxo dead den tools will all thread into here. Uh, VIP and uh, dent layer A one, I'll use a five sixteens. 18. So your standard thread. So big, big threads, little threads.
Um, but anyways, this fast PDR slide hammer is heavy. This is probably, man, I, I bet it's approaching a pound and a half. I don't think [01:01:00] it's two. Um, but it is a fast, fast slide hammer. Uh, it's got a magnet so it will hold when you're there. Uh, comfortable. I said when I was talking about the robo, I like smooth.
I surfaces. This is nice and round. So I can come in, mash that down, hold it with my finger, and then rip and then it resets there, right? Come down mash pull. It resets, right? It's fast. See fast. PD Alright. It was a bad joke. I liked it though. It was funny. I like dad jokes fast. PDR slide hammer. I may have a problem with slide hammers.
I might need to go to like slide hammers anonymous. I have to do a slide hammer show or a slide hammer video, not a show. We'll do a slide hammer video. I'll pull out all my slide hammers. I even have an old school one. I don't remember who gave it to me [01:02:00] with the screw, like from a body shop where they would drill a hole and screw the fricking slide hammer in and hit it.
Uh, we don't use that. That's, that's a teaching aide. Actually, it's a funny aide. We got it for a commercial. Anyways, funny stuff. Good stuff. Those are some of my go-to slide hammers. Plus I didn't grab it. The Kiko mini slide hammer still my go-to for hot pools on the rail. Uh, super comfortable. Um, and the, the Kiko two and a half pound regular with the spring for my bigger pools.
Uh, I hardly ever do bigger pools. I'm almost exclusively using, uh, something with leverage if we're going that route. Man, I got a mess to clean up. Boys and girls. We've got a lot of tools out, but this table's almost cleaned off and that table doesn't really have that many on it. So we're at 1 0 2. Let's, let's see if we can get outta here by one 30, by an hour and a half with cold glue.
Uh, this [01:03:00] is new this year. Um, I dunno how big of a splash it made. Uh, it does make a good spray. Uh, the Moff from Willy Quick. This stuff absolutely melts cold glue residue. I don't care if it's Glaxo or regular. Glaxo. The Diablo, the Sergio's, this willy quick muck off, uh, is so fast to clean. Uh, and also, right, it melts it off, it leaves you a clean surface to come back and, uh, pull again.
Uh, so available from Willy Quick, uh, and to Anson as well. Um, I've heard you can use some like cleaning kerosene. That's what Sergio recommends. That just sounds like, it makes me nervous. This is probably the same stuff, but they made it purple. Put it in a pretty label. And I like the willies, so I would rather support them.
So the Willy quick muck off is a must have slash what to look for. Check it out. They will definitely be at [01:04:00] mt I'm sure. Uh, we'll save this. We're gonna put this over here 'cause that makes sense. Bring these little guys over here. Yeah, we'll do this while we're talking glue and small stuff. Let's talk about my, I don't know what I would call 'em.
Go-to tabs. My, my finishing tabs of the year. Uh, big tabs are just big tabs. Uh, they're good ones from. I use Kiko, I use Cam Auto, of course I've got some stuff from JVF. Those are all good tabs, big tabs. You're really just trying to fit what you're trying to fit and there's not a go-to when it comes to finishing.
I've got a couple of tabs. All buy Kiko or a collaboration with Kiko. Uh, first up is gonna be the old school. Um, can't believe it's actually old school, but the Dead Sea Dead [01:05:00] Center line of tools, right? I still use these all the time. Uh, available on ice and the, the nylon, uh, original material. Excellent, excellent stuff.
Uh, dead center tabs from there, the Reaper Dent Reapers Hexagon tabs with Edge Flex Technology took dead center technology and magnified it or amplified it, uh, by adding a step to the side of the face between these two style, obviously not just this size, right between these two styles. Man, you can really kill a lot of tabs.
These are finishing tabs. They will break and if you abuse 'em they will break. Uh, I hardly ever break them 'cause I'm only using them to finish Dent, uh, two of my favorite finishing tabs. From our Bud Lee [01:06:00] Hudson over at ENTs, the tornado tabs, uh, EF five through EF one. Um, a little play on dead center technology where they did a tornado shaped shaft down to dead center width at the head, but up to a thicker, uh, top of the shaft.
Hard pulling, sharp pulling tabs. Uh, available on five different sizes. I use these literally all the time. Um, crease tabs or crease style tabs. The Dent Reaper, uh, I guess it's still a hex crease tab. Uh, these things pull so incredibly hard. Uh, it's almost come to the point where if I just need something to move, if something just won't give up, if I can get it into a shape [01:07:00] that this tab that this style tab will hook up on, it's moving.
And if this won't move it, it's not glue pulling. Uh, so you've got that large face, you've got the Edge flex technology. I think you can sort of see that in the video. Um, man Killer all must have tabs. And then I just grabbed this one. Uh, I was actually just having a conversation with Hudson a week or two ago.
This is just one of the dead center crease tabs available from Kiko. This whole line of tabs, the the dead center crease tabs is, is a tab that I think, uh, and in talking to Hudson, he sort of had the same opinion. It's a tab that's just sort of slept on. Uh, that is an absolute go-to tab for me. I have to have, uh, these, uh, available like five millimeters wide by maybe seven millimeters long on up to [01:08:00] some bigger ones.
I would say like the smallest 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, maybe the smallest five or six pieces are like absolute money. Uh, I fell in love with those. I think they came out, I was with Kiko when they came out. I fell in love with them right away. They pull so good, so good. It's a must have. They've been out for probably six or seven years and I think it's just a slept on tab.
If you do not have the key code dead center crease, tabs, go get 'em. If you don't have the, if you don't have any of these tabs, go get 'em, put 'em to work. Uh, they will make you money, I'm sure. Tabs of the year. Really, not even just tabs of the year. Tabs. I use all the time. The tabs that I've used the most this year for sure.
Excellent, excellent stuff. [01:09:00] Knockdowns. I'd know for sure I need like Knockdowns Anonymous. Um, these are not brand new, uh, though they've made some changes this year. Steve Dyke, uh, who's now with Cam Otto brought one up to me at Anson in, I guess that probably would've been spring of or fall. Spring or fall of 24.
And he is like, try this. It's a new knockdown. We're gonna bring 'em out. Uh, it's from Dent Vision. It's a shock blocker. And I'm sure I still have my original one because I've got a bunch of them and now they've come out with iterations. Uh, they had the X four, they had extra Springs Magnetic Limited edition, uh, zero gravity.
Oh, that's the magnetic one. Uh, super Mario Brothers like teleportation tube. Extra big ones. Full stainless. [01:10:00] These things are awesome. Let's look at 'em.
Can't find my camera. There it is. This look a little blurry. Hold on one second. Lemme focus this up for you guys. Here
we go. You gotta love it's self production anyways. Shock blockers. Um. The way they work. If you are not familiar, if you live under a rock or maybe you're new to PDR, the way they work is you hold this outer uh, sleeve and the knockdown itself moves through the sleeve blocking any shock from coming into your fingers.
Now, I will still grab an occasional, regular knockdown. I actually can't believe how much vibration there is there that you never noticed. Um, this is my standard I'll go to [01:11:00] every day. I dunno if I can take this cap off. Come on. I think this is an X four or no, this is zero gravity. The purples were zero gravity.
So double magnet setup. Um, you can see that one's pretty beat up. More or less they came out with some plastic caps. Uh, these beat my stinger up Les, uh, which is why I like them. Uh, but anyways, Nick from Dent Vision just gave me a handful to try out. Um, amazing. Like, and, and along the same lines of slide hammers of robo lifters.
I don't want to switch tips. I would rather just have more knockdowns with the tips that I want, right? So my day to day every day are, I think that's an og uh, shock [01:12:00] locker. This is the next four. Um, I don't notice a whole big difference there. It's the pass through that I really like. So my standard broad knockdown tip, broader knockdown tip.
And then I believe this is the peewee. Both of these are match grade from dead dent tools. Lot of them, like these are both well over a year old and you can see that there is like no mushrooming at all. Um, I'm more likely to drop it and break it than to have it wear out on a car match grade with the R four.
Um, full stainless, uh, this was, this was a one of one, uh, Craig from Anson gave this to me. Uh, he wanted a stainless shaft with a standard sleeve, uh, and the machine shop misheard him and made a stainless sleeve with a stainless shaft. Uh, we've got a few of these at the shop. This is hefty. It probably [01:13:00] at least twice as much weight, at least in the hand, feels like twice as heavy as a standard.
Um. I like this X four, which is extra strings or extra springs when I really need to get after something and I'm hitting hard. This full stainless body stainless shaft is my go-to there. Uh, just brought this back. I've not had many big dents to fix as of late. This is the xl, uh, or the fatty. Um, little bit more heft.
Little bit more girth. Uh, I'm sure it will be awesome. Uh, but I literally have not hit anything with it yet, but it is out there and available. And I think these are probably gone. Uh, but this is the limited addition. Zero gravity. Um, Mario Brothers throwback. Remember the pipes? He would jump in and Super Mario Brothers.
Like that's the idea there with the cool green, um, carbon fiber. [01:14:00] This is a cool tool. Uh, so let's talk tips, right? Match grades are amazing. I still keep some steel, uh, but I find myself using this more often. It feels like almost as hard as steel, uh, but less likely to mar the paint. So those two are my go-tos.
Um, you have to have an R four for sure. I will also swap this out for a pivot tip head, right, pop this cap off. Pop the T pit pivot tip head on for some great clean knockdown work. These leather tips from VIP. Amazing for, uh, knock down or for crown cleanup. Um, I don't really like to blend with them. I don't like how the leather blends, uh, but I do love to knock down with them.
I've got three or four different sizes in this three that I can think of. Um, these leather tips are amazing and then I can't remember this material. This is also a peak, but not quite as hard [01:15:00] as the match grade. Um, also another great tip. These are a little bit less expensive than the other ones, which is why I have it on my heavy, uh, knockdown.
So if I'm wailing on it and this gives up, I won't feel as bad as if I had that. Bro. Do you have like 10 shock walkers? If not you should. I, I'm into the mid-teens. Uh, in fact, Anson, uh, was doing a giveaway. They think they had 2000 of 'em to giveaway. Like any order with Anson would send you a shock blocker.
I needed to order something, so I needed an adapter. I texted Vinny at Anson and I'm like, dude, don't send me a shock blocker. Like, I'm good. I have a lot of shock. I can't drink any more shock blockers. We're full. Uh, but these tools, these knockdowns are amazing. Uh, I got his hammer for reaching out and knocking down.
Um, love it. Nick is a good dude. Nick is a great dude. Uh, those are available at Anson pdr and I [01:16:00] think his website is up at Dent Vision Tools. Speaking of Knockdowns to say on track. Old school here, baby. Not even sure who or where I got these from. Uh, I think I bought them used off of a tech. Uh, these are from a one, um, dent Craft also sells.
These, these are a must have drum roll. I, I can't play the drums. These are a must have for doing hail on like an SUV roof, you know, where you've got the hatch off and you're working from the back. Especially for a short guy like me, like I can only reach so far, right And be accurate. You use these, I can reach way out with my long one and come in with my shorter one and now I can tap accurately like that.
These have been around a [01:17:00] long time. Uh, I can remember early in my career when they first started coming out and I'm like, man, someday I'm gonna have 'em. Uh, and I've had these for a long time. Get a set of hammers. Most of the time they come with a set of three. Uh, I think my shorty one is probably out with my body hammers.
Uh, honestly never use it, but long and medium, absolutely use all the time on big roofs. Also, check out from Dent Vision, uh, his little extended reach shock blocker. Uh, knock down. Good stuff. These are from a one, so pdr tool.com. Uh, match grade and not match grade, but good tips. Uh, you could also get a pair of these or a set of these at Dent Craft tools.
Awesome stuff. Must have simple, uh, not crazy expensive, but you really need to have it in your box. If you're serious about fixing dents
while we're on the hail kick, [01:18:00] this is definitely a must have. My must have my go-to. Uh, now again, it's just a piece. Uh, my carbon tech rod absolutely lost without this. When my buddy Dan bought one of these in 2017 when he first came out, I was like, dude, you are insane for spending a thousand dollars on a push tool arm, one tool that was ludicrous.
And he goes, oh, well try it out. See what you think. And I pulled it out and I went in and I was exactly about that far into a roof. And I'm like, son of a, he just cost me a thousand bucks. Half to have one lightweight breaks down. I think fully assembled at seven feet tall. Um. Almost zero loss [01:19:00] of power. Uh, when you're pushing with it, it's just so rigid, um, and lightweight.
It doesn't fatigue you, right? Like if I tried to do that with a steel bar or even an aluminum bar, it'd be like this. My wrist would be given up. It's old school. It's not fancy, it's not new, but it is super solid and is definitely a must have. You need to have this tool in your arsenal if you are doing any kind of hail damage.
In fact, Mac you may hear some knocking in the background, is working on a hail car and he needed an extension to reach the front. So he stole a piece outta mine. He's probably nine feet, uh, from the back of the car to the front. Uh, carbon Tech is an absolute, absolute must have. Uh, if you're fixing cars, uh, let's get out of glue.
Let's go to our last glue pool tool. Set up [01:20:00] lateral tension is still all the rage. In fact, that's what I'm talking about at MTE, right? Come see me on Thursday, education Day. My go-to leverage tool has absolutely become the Kiko K powers. Now we got the full size and the small or regular and mini, I can't remember exactly what their names are.
Um. K powers are fricking fantastic. Uh, this little one, I guess you could do with the big one, the little one. I've also got feet that I can unscrew these adapters, uh, and use it like a mini port of power. I just had a training a couple weeks ago. We put a big foot back here into a wheelhouse and a curved foot out here, and we were able to push the inner out while we grabbed the outside with our K beam and pulled there and then threw a K bar on top of that and made some magical moves.
Lateral tension device for me, hands down is this. Now Cam Auto's got [01:21:00] some great tabs. I've got, they've got a, a bridge set up that I used at the, the competition. Uh, the JVF tool will, of course, tension. Um, this has just become my favorite. It's super easy, it's easy to set up. It's fast. Uh, and with the new tab straps, right, I'm getting like zero dive.
I'm getting no residual, uh, loss. Um, they originally started machining these out. They've now since made a mold. Um, if I got that writing right and you can read it tells you where to glue. Do not glue here. Glue here. That'll let this sit up. And then when you're pulling, even if it starts to dive, it can't pull in and make any, uh, collateral damage that you have to fix later.
Like, for sure. Ke K power for lateral tension. Now I get a lot of texts asking me like, what do you use for the, the tension? This is [01:22:00] my answer every time. If you're going to buy one, buy the big one because you can do small stuff with the big tool, but you can't do big stuff with a small tool. Now that being said, earlier this year I did add a second one of these to my arsenal to be able to get into some different places and work around.
So I've got two smalls and a large, uh, keep an eye out. Kiko is coming up with a new mid-size and they're making some changes to the arms, uh, available at MTE. I'm certain that I will be talking about those there. Uh, it's my go-to tension tool for sure. Uh, let's talk. Oh man. See that? I'm gonna do too bad.
You guys will have to wait in here in a different video. What these straps were for. It's not too bad if that's the only ball I dropped. Let's talk about some push tools. I picked these up [01:23:00] a couple of years ago, I think the first year they were out. So they're not brand new, but they are absolutely must haves and that is the Dent Reaper Hails Angels Set.
I think it is now an eight piece set, uh, three sixteenths. Shorty blue handles yellow here. Uh, then gray, then purple are the big ones. There is some magic that happens. Lemme get this. Let's see if we can get this to focus for you guys. Come on there. It's, there is just some magic in the shape that they have come up with with this end.
So it's got like a double kick. It's curved, right? So you can sneak up into, into some braces and this like pushes sharp and soft all at the same time.[01:24:00]
I was a big fan of the Excalibur. I think it's the AKs, the sharp ones. I still have the whole set of those in the shop and I'll use them on some sharper, harder aluminum. But my go-to for hail hoods for top panels is the, ha's angels. I've used these on, on hail of course. Um, I did a, an Audi smash in a door.
The only tool I could find in my whole collection of tools that would let me sneak into that goofy European brace was like the big purple version of this through a hole up and in the curve and the kick on these, John, you, you hit a freaking home run with these dude. Um. I've had so many people try these in the shop and turn around and buy 'em.
Like as soon as they try 'em, they buy 'em. Which is exactly what my buddy Tom Poland at Indianapolis Auto Spa, Midwest Auto Dent, whichever [01:25:00] one you want to find him on. Uh, I went out to do some hail for him a few years ago and he was like, dude, you gotta try these. And I dried 'em and literally like one hood in grabbed my phone and they were sitting in my house when I got home from that, being on the road for a week.
Absolutely. You need to have the ha's angels from Dent Slayer while you're making that Dent Slayer order, or I'm sorry, dent Reaper order. Right? Get your ha's angels, get your purple tabs and also get yourself
the credos. Uh, Mike Toledo's been talking about these. I fell in love with 'em as soon as I got them. I think I actually won these at Andy Patrick's Toy Drive last year, uh, and came back and put 'em to use and instantly fell in love. So this tool is, let's see if we get this bad Boy of Focus again. There we [01:26:00] go.
Uh, so he has put, it's like a pretty fat head for a blade style tool and I don't know how well it really shows, but this. It's like a half of a ball transition at the top. This allows you to push so hard and so clean. Um, it's unbelievable. So I've got, uh, both sizes of the door tools. So this is the shorty and then there's a long one that's about like this.
And then there's a set of three. I wouldn't call 'em picks 'cause they're not picks, but like straight with a 45 degree kick. A bendable, um, rad set. This rads grind tip has like, this is the door tool I grab first. Now when I'm going down on a door to do a door ding, I'm grabbing these to get in and it just pushes so, so [01:27:00] clean.
Uh, the credos from Dent Reaper are fricking fantastic. Um, love it, love it, love it, love it. Speaking of door tools, let's stay in that mix and let's talk about a couple. So my shoulders being, I'm 23, almost 24 years in my shoulders are smoked. I have elbow problems, right? When I started it was fixed handle tools.
You just twisted how you had to twist. And leverage wasn't a thing and adjustability certainly wasn't a thing. Uh, talking door tools. Talking any kind of twist tool. The Gorilla Grip tactical handle, I think is the name, is a must have. This particular one is the end game. So [01:28:00] it goes on and you can pivot, pivoted, but this allows you to rotate the tool without taking the handle off.
Um, I keep it doubled up, so I've got plenty of leverage. Uh, I couldn't tell you the last time I stuck a regular handle tool down a door. I'm slowly replacing all of my tools, uh, with the hub tool set up. Um, this is your standard hub. Uh, this fits your standard head. The end game has the two buttons and like a 15 degree kick.
Brand new. I literally just got these like a week or so ago. The compact hub from Anson, a whole new redesign. So look at the teeth on that one compared to, well, that just is a couple of teeth compared to the teeth on that one. [01:29:00] So much more bite here. A total redesign, uh, this compact hub is super cool.
This works more like your regular standard hub where you're on. Then if you wanna move it, take it off, turn it to where you want it and lock it back in. Killer, killer adjustable handles so much better than the first ones that came out way better than a fixed handle. Uh, I feel like had these come out years ago, my shoulders and elbows would not be nearly as beat up stuff that I know I cranked on rolling around.
Now I just sort of sit back and I'm like, do, do, do, do. And it just goes. Some of my go-to door tools, right? The credos from, uh, dent Layer the, or Dent Reap. Man, there's too many dent things. The credos from Dent Reaper, uh, awesome. The, uh, door Lords. So I got the set of [01:30:00] interchangeable tools. Uh, we talked about the small one earlier set of three.
Uh, the door lords I think is a set of five or six. I love the sharp, so it's a long kick. Uh, maybe five or six inch kick. Nice sharp, not needle sharp, but a sharp tool for, uh, really working clean. Um, and this longer kick, right, this is, this will outshine the rad us. This longer kick on some of these newer, wider doors allows you to get leverage and get in there and really, uh, make some moves.
Door Lords, uh, tequila Door Lords available at Anson. PDR. This mini these are, no, I can't wait to use it. IUI. This was the first tool I grabbed when I got this new set. Uh, and ran out and fixed a door. Ding with it. These are five sixteens. Oh, I should switch cameras. These are the five sixteenths, [01:31:00] um, compact hub tools.
What is, man, I need a camera guy. Keep up with me here. Uh, five sixteenths. Nice. Long kick. Similar to the standard door, Lord. Right. We'll go side by side to show you that shaved profile, nice and skinny. This will allow you to sneak in to the edge of some, uh, edge of some braces, even, uh, out towards the edge of a door.
Compact hub design. Uh, man, it fixed a nice sharp ding with this the other day. No bending, no flexing, just straight drive. And again, much like that. Three eights door. Lord, this allows me to sneak into some tighter, um, window openings. Right? Putting less pressure on everything. Absolute. Uh, so end game. And your door lords absolute must haves.
Going to MTE, checking [01:32:00] out, looking for new stuff. This new compact hub is amazing. Speaking of which, let's leave the compact hub out. Uh, and in fact, I've got on our YouTube channel at Dent Repair now, uh, which you might even be watching this on here. I have a first look video I did on the new compact tools, compact hub tools set up.
Uh, so there's a whole line of whale tails. So there's two different size whale tails. I just grabbed one obviously for space sake today. Uh, these are the Anson tequila rattlesnake, uh, whale tails. So these have a curve similar to the idea of the hails angels to allow you to get up and into a race and stay away with the compact hub.
So now, instead of a fixed handle like your standard whale [01:33:00] tail, where you go here and twist against yourself. Now if I want to twist that way, I can actually preload here and then I've got more torque again, saving that wear and tear on your joints and shoulders. And I'm able to move my whole arm instead of rolling my wrist under and tearing my elbow up.
Um, new line of whale tails, inch and a quarter and one inch. Uh, some arched brace tools. Uh, see the nice curve on it locked in. Same idea. I can go. Instead of just being straight or wherever, I can come out here and now I've got great leverage to come and twist up. Nice sharp tip for doing fine cleanup work, forcing your aluminum up.
Driving the aluminum up. The lucky sevens, I think that was originally an A one tool design. Uh, they've done a compact hub version of the lucky sevens. [01:34:00] The idea here is this tool, so that's maybe quarter inch, three eight tops. Uh, we can sneak this through an existing hole, hook it, and then come back and then shoot a whale tail through a small hole into a panel.
So think of like you're working up into a sail panel. Uh, now we can sneak in and shoot up that sail panel and get into where the braces start with a whale tail through like a factory taillight hole. Um, check out the new compact hub. The build is amazing. Uh, I can't wait. Uh, there's a dense layer upper door tool set, uh, that helped inspire or helped push this forward that Anson is redesigning, redoing with the compact hub.
I can't wait to get those, those, if I didn't have handle problems would've been on the must haves, but you'll have to wait for the compact version to come out. Definitely what to look at. Go [01:35:00] see these at Anson PDR. Check 'em out at the booth when you're in. Orlando at mte. Amazing, amazing stuff. Let's go to an old school favorite.
Like this is like one of those man, I wanna buy one tool. What should I buy for the beginners, for the people starting for the body Text. 30 inch dent craft, double bend, interchangeable tip. This is like a man. I can do, uh, open hood panels with it. I can sneak down, not that I want to into a door and do some pushing with this.
Still my go-to tool for fenders, right? Get up through the wheel well and go buying this one rod. And a bunch of tips. Remember earlier I said buy all the tips. Uh, this is just one of those. It's not [01:36:00] flashy. It's not stainless, it doesn't have a sweet handle, but it does have incredible drive, a comfortable handle, and interchangeable tips.
This is an old school, simple. Uh, Mac was in earlier. He is like, oh, these are like the oldest gold. This is an old as gold tool. Uh, this thing is absolute money. Um, I do not leave the shop without it. It has to be on my cart all the time.
A cool little hub tool, double band that I picked up earlier this year. I picked up one fixed handle from Finesse and Max stole it from me. Um, I happened to be at Anson, or No Bigs was here. Yeah, bigs came in. Uh, and I looked and we got a nice double band, three eights, but still your standard five sixteenths, uh, tool tip, right?
So you can see [01:37:00] I've got the, uh, phenolic on one of my go-to tips. Um, but I can go all the way down to a regular three eights tip and sneak in there so I could put that wizards dice on. I could put that pink tip on. I remember when they first started making tools like this and they were like, oh, we can't do it.
'cause the walls are gonna be too thin. They have put design and tested and now they can make a wall that thin and strong to get it. Uh, this goes with my, uh, tactical handle. That's just a regular T handle awesome tool. Great for sneaking again through some of these factory holes through, through doors, tight areas.
Incredible. Um, really great stuff. I'm also excited to see, uh, these new micro tips that Black plague is coming out with, um, for exactly that. Like it's basically the threads. And whatever the tip is, it's gonna make that tool and tools like that [01:38:00] even more versatile. So, Keith, get these things out, man.
You've been talking about it for like two or three shows. Now we're ready
from Dent Slayer, not Dent Reaper. Let's see if we can get it right this time. Uh, these rat rods, uh, this tool, I had heard about it a couple years ago. They're not brand new, but they are super crazy and weird looking. The idea and TikTok, you can go check out my TikTok channel. I think when I shared this tool, it's one of my best viewed videos on TikTok.
So side note, we're still live on TikTok. If you're watching, go see how this sneaks into a panel. The idea is, uh, I've got a quarter inch and this is five sixteenths. You can take like a molding off, sneak through the molding hole. The tool wraps around like this and like this. It's like one of those puzzles and then you're up in the panel.
It is amazing to me how this goofy little [01:39:00] design, how far it will let you reach up into a panel through one of those holes without tearing up the hole and destroying it. Matt, at dense layer, dude, hats off for an incredible design. There's three pieces in this. I've got the two piece set with the fixed handle.
There's also a Mighty Mouse. I think it's a Mighty Mouse that is a smaller bendable version of this. And cheap. Uh, definitely under 200 bucks for the set of two, maybe like 150, 170. Uh, literally paid for it. The first day I had 'em at a, uh, it's the video that's on my TikTok. I shared it everywhere, but TikTok is where it went.
The biggest. Um, the rat rods are like, rock and roll baby. Uh, we just saved a Honda Pilot quarter panel with it two weeks ago, Dave in the shop. It was the first time he is, what are these rat rods? And I'm like, here. And he was struggling and he is like, man, I can't get on this crease. [01:40:00] And sure enough, the rat rod was like right up and in and all over it.
Killer. All right, we're coming to the end. Uh, we did not make an hour and 30 minutes. This is definitely gonna be our longest show. The Better Bar. A better Bar,
A better bar by our buddy Jared Kirk, uh, out of Arizona. I think he may be around the, in or around the Phoenix market. Anyways, it's a flat bar. This is your standard flat bar design, but you can see several five sixteens, 18 holes drilled in it. So you can use this. Uh, similar to another flat bar that's on the market that shall remain nameless.
Also, a, uh, [01:41:00] five, 16th, 18 end here, right? That you can put a tip on there. Bendable. It's got a nice semi polished edge here. I normally keep a piece of leather on this wrapped and taped. You can see my tape line. Uh, I just have it off to show you the whole tool and I didn't bring it in, but he's got a collar that goes on here and it's just a u with a thread.
And you can actually infinitely along the length of this, make a, uh, position a tool. You can also take, since we're going right, since we're over time anyways, you can also take, I just did this on like a 70 Chevelle. If you need more reach, you can thread into the end with one of your tactical handles. So what I did on there is, uh, I needed a tip here where I was working a crease over the wheel well.
I was able [01:42:00] to sneak this in the wheel. Well have my tip here and then I've got extra oomph here, extra leverage, and I could make that reverse fulcrum push with that. Um. Man, the A Better Bar has been, uh, just a, a go-to tool for me. I think you can find it on his [email protected]. Um, Google a better bar, look up a better repair.
I know he is on TikTok. Uh, 'cause Jared, thanks for commenting all the time on my stuff. I love it. But the, uh, A better Bar has been a great, great, uh, tool for me. I picked it up last summer. Uh, it's, it's a little known tool. I, I don't think enough people know about it. Um, so it sort of falls in the mix of like what to look at that.
But I don't know even know if he has 'em at MTE check him out on his website. Uh, but it's become a go-to for me. I don't leave the shop right in the shop. It's here all the time. It's one of the tools I take with me when I head out mobile [01:43:00] and, uh, hit the road. We're getting there. Speaking of hitting the road, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I've got an umbrella hanging on the wall here, right.
For the whole show. See if we can do this.
This is the Geta Grip umbrella set up. If I can find the button here, it's so, if we can do this without taking myself out, so you get a grip umbrella,
that's been, I can't reach over there for, to tighten it up. This umbrella. So I used a mobile tech shade for years and then I was in the shop for years and then losing a technician earlier this year. I went back out on the road, I'm like, man, I need a new umbrella. Well, I reached out to my buddy Matt at Geta Grip and this is what we got.
So it's an 82 inch umbrella. I mean, this thing is huge. It's, [01:44:00] it's as, it's, I can't reach the two tips. You know, if I stick my hand and try to go across, I can't reach the two tips. It's huge. The arm or the mount, the grip, uh, is killer. So I wanna bring that over to you and show you. I'm gonna take the umbrella off so I don't hurt anybody, namely myself here.
So let's get rid of this. If you've noticed this thing has been hanging here the whole time, guys, this is just a painted wall. This his, his new I upgraded. This is his new auto cup. Um, this thing is fricking bulletproof. This arm, this hand, uh, I think he holds a pretty heavy kettlebell up with it at the shows.
And I've gotta get a little shout out to Matt. Lemme loosen this [01:45:00] up. Didn't ask for this. It was a little surprise. He, come on, let's get in there. There it is. He laser engraved. I ordered a pair of these one for me and one for Mac. We got the guru logo on my get a grip cup. Uh, Matt that's freaking cool is all get out.
Um, this auto cup is killer, like Auto cup is. We're gonna talk about it with the Stuckey here in a second. Um, but like this
hit the button that is suctioned down super hard. You saw it hanging on there for, I put it up there before we started. So we're an hour and 45. So it's been hanging on there for two hours, uh, on a painted wall and nothing incredible. USBC rechargeable. [01:46:00] Uh, it's got a couple different mounts up here. I may even do some cool camera mounts with this thing.
Uh, really, really cool. Uh, if it's anything like my stuckey uh, battery or mike pump that we're gonna talk about here in a minute, uh, you'll need to recharge this like once a week if that. Just the USBC rechargeable G grip. Hands down the best. We were out in some heavy winds. Um, I love it. Like, and that big old cover to get you in shade.
Chef's kiss, Matt chef's kiss and the glue roof thing is pretty badass. Next up my VIP carbon, um, window guard. This thing, I got this off again, not brand new. Uh, I think he may have come out with a different size or two Now. Super thin. [01:47:00] Super thin, right? Talking about those, I'm not gonna be able to get that to focus.
Talking about those European cars, the tighter doors for the smaller tools, this thing is super thin. It's flocked on the backside. Um, so your felt can't roll up or anything. He left the very edge off. Uh, so you can sneak in, uh, down into those tight doors pretty long, um, and hard. Like I'm certain that that's coming through.
Uh, on the audio I have, I no longer use, uh, one of the heavy steel guards when I'm doing even laminated glass. This is so rigid that I have no fear, uh, of getting down in and getting after it. Uh, kind of expensive for a window guard, but literally worth every penny. Uh, Peter, you had a home run on this one, dude, like this is not new.
That's a must have. Like, go buy this now. Just go to V-I-P-P-D-R tools and get it. [01:48:00] Oh, math site. Forget a grip. Get a grip now. The reason that one's so easy for me to remember is dent repair. Now, see what he did there. I like it guys. We're in the home stretch running outta gas. It's 1 48 hour and 48 minutes.
This is a long show. We're gonna finish this and wrap it before two. So I've got 11 minutes and 35 seconds to finish. Let's talk lights.
All right, I think this is technically new in 25. Um, this, A limited flip light is an upgrade to pro pdr uh, light back in the day. This will allow you to fix deep dense, so much faster and so much cleaner. Uh, like it literally will change [01:49:00] your game on how you fix that stuff. Uh, I just did a video with this light from my buddy Slava, uh, Bour, two sl, uh, on TikTok.
What's up, TikTok? Uh, you can see a quick how to video on this. Amazing. Uh, they've been out for a year, so let's call it like kind of, if you haven't been around, you need to go see it, but it is an absolute must have. I've got several of these. Uh, do not leave the shop without it, uh, magnetic base. Um, to stick to, you know, steel.
Uh, also it can comes with a suction cup. So if you're gonna work on aluminum and you need that, uh, magnet, suction cup to here, power suction cup, right onto the car, and you can still get in. This thing is phenomenal. Uh, and little flashlight in case you need a flashlight. Uh, good to have us. BBC rechargeable anson pdr.com for that.
While we're on the Anson Eliminant [01:50:00] kick, I just got this light, uh, for or at our dent for Kids pigs was in, he brought like the first six available in the country. It is the new ELIMINANT Mini Light. So I believe this is 20, yeah, 20 inch light, six strips. I didn't bring the Milwaukee battery back. Um, auto Cup super bright.
Um, actually, I, I'm, I'm really a go-to Stuckey guy. Uh, but the, these lights I think are just a little bit brighter than this. So if you're stuck outside and working, I lied. I do have a battery. Uh, if you're stuck outside and working, um, this could be an option for you. Now, I'm not dogging a eliminant by any stretch of the imagination, and there's a ton of Eliminant fans out there for me, this.
It's a [01:51:00] little heavy, but right with that big battery, it's gonna be heavy period. I personally do not have this spinal cord dialed in yet. I'm working on it and it's cool that it's adjustable, but I'm not there yet. I'm thinking about putting this light on a stand and being like a mini dooring light, a little heavier than I like.
But let's talk about the features. So the brightness, uh, let's see, LED is on, right? So we've got cool, warm, and we've got six strips of brightness. The camera is not going to keep up with that, but I promise you this beam is six strips. There we go. There's three strips. Uh, incredibly bright. Uh, I think this may be the brightest.
So many switches. There we go. This may be the brightest light on the market today. Uh, incredibly [01:52:00] bright, uh, very similar. Uh, they call it the X factors, the new his new HA lights. This body build super, super tough. Um, it looks like a, uh, an ejection molded plastic. Uh, incredibly strong, no twist. Uh, I've dropped it a couple of times.
Um, it's amazing. Uh, auto cup, right? So. The thing suction down, it's not gonna come off. Um, I dig it. I even had a little flicker issue. James Lee, right? Illuminant standing up the way they stand up. I messaged him literally back in minutes. He's like, oh dude, I'm sorry. You got one of the first ones missed qc.
And there was just a slight little issue inside here, told me exactly how to fix it. Uh, it was literally like a 62nd fix, and we were good. Also, I'm certain that if I would've needed to send it back, he would've taken it back in a heartbeat. Uh, [01:53:00] the new mini Eliminant light, uh, in fact, I think big sold eight or 10 of these.
Uh, such a big hit with, especially with the Eliminant portable guys. This is like the Cadillac of mini lights. As far as the Eliminant brand goes, this thing is awesome and bright. I'm telling you so bright that I was out working with Mac. I didn't even pull my umbrella out, uh, because I could see so well with this.
I didn't need the shade, uh, from that. And again, super, super good build, uh, and little bonus, right? The USB, you can charge your phone with it if you need to turn your USB on, um, or if you need to charge your phone out in the field, uh, a limit, or, I'm sorry, uh, Milwaukee, Makita, or DeWalt, pick your poison. Uh.
Killer killer light. Uh, and also in the shop, Mac commandeered my Stuckey [01:54:00] light. I've been doing most of my shop repairs with the X factor. Hail light, love the build, love the sharp, crispy lines. Uh, I've even been playing with the, uh, it's not a Medusa setup anymore, but I've got the adapter from Anson where I can take my Milwaukee light and plug it into there and run my X factor off of a Milwaukee instead of the big batteries.
It's good stuff. Keep, man, it's tools have come such a long, long way, uh, over my career, let alone some of the original guys. Um, killer. Keep it up. Keep it up. My go-to portable light. Sorry, James. Great light, great build is my stuckey. It's so light, it, so nimble. Uh, 18 inches. Um, it's got the, the silicone cover on it, right?
You're not scratching the car mounted on the end. [01:55:00] Mounted in the middle. Either one works, same thing here, right? I've got six strips, uh, all the same. Oh, I'm sorry. Five strips on this. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 strips on this one. Um, you can build out this way or reverse the lights, or I guess you could do all of one color if you wanted.
Um. Runs on now, like this is a complaint from some people, is that it runs on a proprietary battery. Uh, I get such great battery life out of these that I don't care. Uh, and I think we have four or five. I've got stuckey lights coming outta my ears in the shop. Uh, these little mini batteries work out.
Spectacular all. You can charge it by itself or plug the light in and charge, um, the upgrade. So this is my must have dooring light. Like if I'm picking one, this is where I'm going. It's, it's light, it's fast, it's nimble. The [01:56:00] upgrade this year is the Auto cup. Uh, so very similar build to mats. Uh, but this is the smaller one.
Um, powered on it. Boots up, hit the button and it's ready to go.
And we're on, right? We're holding. It's there. You're good to go. No more worrying about pumping your light up or anything. Everything suction cup in my world is switching over to, uh, these auto cups and same thing. Uh,
totally drew a blank. I, where we were going with that. Doesn't matter. Anyways, these auto, uh. Get a grip, the Auto Cup from James Lee. Uh, and he has a big round one as well. I've got one of his [01:57:00] claws with the Auto Cup. Uh, this little one from Stuckey. I think Stuckey has a bigger one also. Uh, man, no more running over and keeping an eye on your pump and things falling off.
Uh, that auto cup is absolute money. I know Carl is also testing out, uh, a new, it's like a pump replacement for the woods, uh, for the like replace the pump on your woods cup. Um, curious to see where that goes.
One hour, 57 minutes and 33 seconds. I made it. Taking a quick glance around, I don't think there are any more tools that are brought back with me. Oh, one one I'll go fast. Not from any of the PDR companies, but from Viper. So I've got the Viper chair. Don't sit in one because you will buy one. It's worth every penny.
But, uh, they caught me on a sale, uh, and they had this little foldable creeper. And now I've [01:58:00] been a big fan of, I've got like a vinyl one from Harbor Freight. One, it smells pretty bad. I gotta like let it bake out in the sun. Um, but it works great. I've used it for years, but they're hit and miss and it's like, you know, cheap China stuff.
When I saw this, uh, on the Viper site, I was like, dude, I think I might have to have it, uh, made in the USA. Uh, so we got a made in the USA tag unfolds like this, right? So you can double it up, triple it up. You can use it as a kneeler, you can use it as a creeper. Uh, this thing, uh, picked it up, I dunno, a few months ago.
Awesome. And I think they're only like 60 bucks, which is not of all the tools we looked at today. Short of some tips. I don't think you're buying anything for 60 bucks, but this made in the USA Viper, foldable Creeper. Awesome. I'm excited to [01:59:00] see how well it holds up. I've not, I don't see anywhere at all in the couple of months I've been using it.
Uh, in fact, I loved it so much that I bought all of my technicians one for Christmas. Uh, so that's it. Did I make it? Yes. 50 seconds left to go. If you're still with me, man. Hats off. Thank you for sticking around. I hope this gave you some insight into some of the tools that I use all the time, some of the new tools that are out, um, making it a little easier for you to decide whether to pull the trigger or not.
Happy New Year. Uh, that is in just a couple of days after you're watching this. I think Level up as a go, keep an eye out details to follow. MTE is coming up. I will see you next year. There's the dad joke. All right, I'm gonna let it run right till well, right till two hours. Exactly. Finish and 5, 4, 3, 2, [02:00:00] 1.
Guys, thanks so much. See ya.
